Saturdays festivities started with The Forged Hearts, who hail from Northern Ireland. They describe themselves as a ‘female fronted, classic rock inspired band’ and had travelled just to be at Winters End. The first two tracks (I Touched The Fire and Stupid Games) rattled the addled brain cells of those pissheads who were still hanging from the Friday eve, to those of us who were ‘sober’ it was pleasure to witness their all too short set, a mere 6 tracks, all of which made me sit up and take notice. For a ‘new’ band the Hearts story is only just beginning, all I can say is, stay tuned, or you’ll miss some diamonds!

Next up are Untamed Silence, another female fronted band. As I return to the pit Debbie Wade (their singer) is prowling the stage, it is obvious she is ready to roll, (you can almost she her thinking “I’m ready, why aren’t you!”), this I am looking forward to, there are definitely no egos hiding anywhere here, this is going to be raw, it has the makings of something special……the MC appears on stage and sidles up to Debbie, that was his first mistake, his second one in a matter of seconds was to look at Debbie and say into his mic, “are you ready then?”. Debbie looks him up and down and immediately retorts with “….you’re obviously not!”, the audience greet this with a well-deserved cheer. A swift polite lesson learnt introduction and we’re off…..we’re treated to such gems as Long Time Dead / The Power / Rise and finally Deadspeak. Untamed Silence aren’t tame, and they aren’t silent, and I wasn’t disappointed; this was something special, I count myself fortunate to have seen (and heard) Untamed Silence, and as the lighting fairy didn’t visit overnight, with some decent lighting I’d like to photograph them again!

Alice Freya who fronts Last Flight to Pluto (the next band on) is, as she tells us, ”from just down the road”. Alice is a petite lady, her guitar is almost as big as she is, BUT, judge on that at your peril, Alice’s voice soon brings you back to earth. Last Flight aren’t a classic heavy rock band, they give you a more refined sound, their appearance is deceiving, and I think they are somewhere nearing V1, take off speed to you and I. Their journey will see them become even more refined and they WILL ‘find’ that Last Flight signature sound.

Austin Gold! Now there’s a name. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from them. Hailing from Peterborough Austin Gold aren’t the new boys in school, they’ve been around a while. Long enough in fact to have released 3 albums, the latest (Those City Lights) of which was released last Nov. We are treated to a bluesy, soul style of rock music, something rather refreshing, and something that will propel Austin Gold to the forefront of their industry in very quick time. The third track of the set ‘Cut & Run’ (which is on the album) gets my attention, I do like that, you need to hear it! The set ends with the punchy 2019 track We Are Lightning. Since the festival I’ve played it countless times, it is now another of my particular Gold favourites, and perhaps a track you shouldn’t drive to!

Up next is a band, originally from Switzerland, but now it appears London based, they are called Daxx & Roxane. These guys are full of character, they aren’t scared of a lens being pointed in their direction, in fact I’m sure they would be offended if you didn’t actually point a lens at them! Their music is full on; imagine music played by the bastard son of Motley Crue (insert any class rock music bands name here if you must!) and a groupie, a son who has inherited the musical talents of his father without trying too much? Music is a God given talent to Daxx & Roxane, it flows effortlessly via their instruments and their fingers allowing them time to engage with the audience and with the couple of photographers somewhere in the depths of the pit……”Pit Monkeys’, as I was once eloquently described by an ex friend, one who also doesn’t understand fish and gravy! Anyway I digress, Daxx & Roxane bring life to the room, if you’re in the room then you have no choice, they rock hard, they rock heavy, and they expect a reaction from those lucky enough to be in their presence! Don’t forget the name!

A quick set change and band that I need no introduction to are next on stage, that band is the formidable Cardinal Black. If you have seen and heard them then skip this bit, for I will not be able to find the words to do them justice. If you haven’t seen or heard of them then please tell me why? How have you missed such masters of their profession? Talent oozes from their very pores, they produce sounds that I’m convinced that the Gods listen to on a regular basis; in fact if they weren’t No 1 on the playlist of all of the ‘Gods’ that frequent the skies above us I’d want to know why? I will bang on no longer, do yourself a huge favour and go and find out all about, and listen to, Cardinal Black, you will thank me!

Oli Brown & The Dead Collective. Oli is the former frontman of RavenEye who has gone rogue, he’s gone out on his own, and from my point of view rightly so, he has an exceptional talent, one that cannot be hidden away, not even for a moment. With Sam Wood (think Black Star Riders and Wayward Sons) playing second guitar and no dedicated bassist the Dead Collective get the proceedings under way. We don’t know it yet, but we are about to witness something of such magnitude that it will (if you were there) have a lasting effect on yr musical life. From the very off this is ‘DIFFERENT’, this is good, very good, both musically and visually. I say visually as it appears a grownup has taken charge of the lighting for this set, the lighting enhances and shows off the band, there is mood to the lighting, it’s in the right place, and at the right time. The population of the pit along with the first few rows of the audience aren’t having their retinas burnt out this time!

Both Oli and the Dead Collective are enjoying this, you can sense it, you can see they are, it’s written in smiles between themselves. It’s all over far too soon for my liking, it was polished and it was very professional, there is so much more to come from this new set up, mark my words.

The Saturday headliners the Von Hertzen Brothers are 3 brothers (strangely, as the name rightly suggests) who have Finnish roots. It didn’t take long for me to realise they posses musical skills that any ‘normal’ human wouldn’t know what to do with. Opening with Day of Reckoning (which starts somewhat quietly) before smacking you around the head for not paying attention, and leading into the fabulous Blue Forest as the second offering.

If their music is a reflection of life experiences then the brothers have lived a varied set of lives, lives which have given them perfect starting blocks from which to launch their musical onslaught on to us. Track titles such as Flowers and Rust, and Frozen Butterflies are delivered perfectly, with very few tracks with lengths under 5 mins then you certainly get your Euros worth. We are treated to 14 tracks in total. All are unique and all are fabulous. New Day Rising is a particular favourite of mine. Ending with Peace Patrol you can see why they are the headliners tonight.

Sat back in the caravan mulling over what I’d just seen (in the company of Mr JD Fire & Cherry Coke once again) prior to retiring for the evening I thought to myself, if I had to ask myself a bona fide question about the Von Hertzen Brothers and what I’d just witnessed what would I ask myself? The question would be, very simply, describe their music? The genuine answer to that is….music best played loud!

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